Up-right type vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

The present invention relates to an up-right type vacuum cleaner having a weight compensation unit to share weight of main body. The up-right type vacuum cleaner includes a brush assembly having a pair of wheels, a main body being rotatably disposed to the brush assembly, a spiral spring being disposed at a connecting part of one side of the brush assembly, and a spring wrap reel being disposed at the connecting part of one side of the main body corresponding to the spiral spring and on which one end of the spiral spring is fixed, wherein the spiral spring gets loosen and wound round the spring wrap reel as the main body angles downwards.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) from Korean Patent Application Nos. 2005-54079 filed on Jun. 22 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of The Invention

The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaner. More particularly, the present invention relates to an up-right type vacuum cleaner having a weight compensation unit.

2. Description of The Related Art

Generally, a vacuum cleaner generates suction force and sucks contaminants such as dust from a cleaning floor by the suction force. Vacuum cleaners are generally classified into a canister type, an up-right type, a stick type, a handy type, a drum type, and so on according to their shape and structure.

Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional up-right type vacuum cleaner I includes a brush assembly 2 moving on a cleaning floor 9 and a main body 3 being disposed on an upper portion of the brush assembly 2.

The brush assembly 2 is moved via a plurality of wheels 4 and has a contaminant suction opening (not shown) facing the cleaning floor for sucking in contaminants. The connection between the brush assembly 2 and the main body 3 allows the brush assembly 2 and the main body 3 to rotate relative to one another. A contaminant collecting apparatus (not shown) that separates and collects contaminants from the air being sucked through the brush assembly 2 is disposed in the main body 3. A vacuum generating apparatus (not shown) for generating the suction force is also disposed in the main body 3. The contaminant collecting apparatus may be implemented by any of a general dust bag and a cyclone dust collecting apparatus. A handle 5, which a user grabs during cleaning, is disposed at an upper portion of the main body 3.

When the user cleans with the up-right type vacuum cleaner 1, he or she grabs the handle 5 and angles the main body 3 with respect to the brush assembly 2 as shown in FIG. 1 to an angle 7. In this position, the main body 3 is angled downward with respect to a vertical axis 6. When the user cleans with the angled main body 3, he or she may feel very tired because whole weight of the main body 3 is applied to the handle 5. In order to solve this drawback, a conventional up-right type vacuum cleaner 1 disposes a torsion spring (not shown) at a connecting portion between the main body 3 and the brush assembly 2. The torsion spring supports the main body 3 so that the weight being applied to the handle 5 decreases. Therefore, the user can move and clean the up right type vacuum cleaner 1 with a small force. The user feels it is convenient to clean with the up-right type vacuum cleaner 1.

However, the up-right type vacuum cleaner 1 having such a torsion spring has one or more drawbacks. For example, the torsion spring can cause the front portion 2a of the brush assembly 2 to be lifted up from cleaning surface 9 when the main body 3 has an angle 7 over a predetermined angle. When the front portion 2 a of the brush assembly 2 is lifted up from the cleaning surface 9, the suction force sucking the contaminants decreases so that it is difficult to perform the cleaning. Therefore, the user typically keeps the angle 7 of the main body within a predetermined angle range so that the front portion 2 a of the brush assembly 2 is not lifted up. Thus, many users feel that it is inconvenient to clean with the conventional up-right type vacuum cleaner 1.

Furthermore, the conventional up-right type vacuum cleaner 1 has another drawback that weight being applied to the handle 5 varies according to the angle 7 of the main body 3.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention has been developed in order to overcome the above drawbacks and other problems associated with the conventional arrangement. An aspect of the present invention is to provide an up-right type vacuum cleaner that minimizes the force supporting the main body when the main body is angled downward. Another aspect of the present invention is to provide an up-right type vacuum cleaner wherein its main body can be angled with respect to its brush assembly without lifting up a front portion of a brush assembly from the surface being cleaned.

The above aspects and/or other feature of the present invention can substantially be achieved by providing an up-right type vacuum cleaner, which includes a brush assembly having a pair of wheels, a main body rotatably connected to the brush assembly by a connecting part at one side of the vacuum cleaner. The connecting part includes a spiral spring being disposed at the brush assembly and a spring wrap reel being disposed at the the main body. The spiral spring gets loosened and wound around the spring wrap reel as the main body is angled downwards.

The up-right type vacuum cleaner can include another connecting part at the other side of the vacuum cleaner.

The spring wrap reels are disposed at the main body in front of the rotation shafts for the pair of wheels on the brush assembly.

The spiral springs are disposed at the brush assembly below and behind the rotation shafts for the pair of wheels.

The connecting part includes a pair of hinge shafts and a pair of hinge grooves to support the pair of hinge shafts. The spring wrap reel is disposed at the hinge shaft.

The ratio of a diameter of the spring wrap reel to the spiral spring can be substantially 2:1.

With an up-right type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention described above, a user may angle the main body downwards by a small force and perform the cleaning because the weight compensation unit shares weight of the main body.

Furthermore, the up-right type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention is convenient to clean because the front part of the brush assembly does not lift up from the floor when the main body is angled downwards.

Also, with the up-right type vacuum cleaner according to the present invention, although the downward angle of the main body varies with respect to the brush assembly, the weight being applied to the handle of the main body may be substantially constant because the spiral spring is used for the weight compensation unit.

Other objects, advantages and salient features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, which, taken in conjunction with the annexed drawings, discloses preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

These and/or other aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and more readily appreciated from the following description of the embodiments, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing figures of which:

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a posture of a conventional up-right type vacuum cleaner,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating an up-right type vacuum cleaner according to an embodiment of the present invention,

FIG. 3 is a partial perspective view illustrating a connecting part of the up-right type vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 2 having one weight compensation unit,

FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view illustrating a connecting part of the up-right type vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 2 having two weight compensation units,

FIG. 5 is a partial exploded prospective view illustrating the connecting part of the up-right type vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 is a partial section view illustrating operation of the weight compensation unit when the up-right type vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 2 is angled downward, and

FIG. 7 is a partial section view illustrating operation of the weight compensation unit when the up-right type vacuum cleaner shown in FIG. 2 is returned to a vertical posture.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts, components and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The matters defined in the description, such as a detailed construction and elements thereof, are provided to assist in a comprehensive understanding of the invention. Thus, it is apparent that the present invention may be carried out without those defined matters. Also, well-known functions or constructions are omitted to provide a clear and concise description of exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, an up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a brush assembly 20, a main body 30, and a weight compensation unit 50.

The brush assembly 20 moves on and sucks contaminants from a cleaning floor. The brush assembly 20 includes a brush body 21, a suction duct 22, a brush unit 23, a water spray unit 24, when desired, a plurality of wheels 25, and a brush cover 29.

The brush body 21 has a contaminant suction opening (not shown) being formed in a bottom portion thereof and supports other elements described below. The contaminant suction opening sucks the contaminants from the cleaning floor.

The suction duct 22 forms a passage that the contaminants being sucked through the contaminant suction opening flows to the main body 30. The suction duct 22 is disposed at an upper portion of the brush body 21, one end thereof is connected to the contaminant suction opening and the other end thereof is connected to the a hose 34 of the main body 30.

The brush unit 23 includes a brush (not shown), a brush motor 23 a, two pulleys 23 b and 23 d, and a belt 23 c. The brush is rotatably disposed at the contaminant suction opening and rotates in contact with the cleaning floor. The brush has a cylindrical shaped brush drum and a large number of brush hairs fixed to the brush drum. The brush motor 23 a rotates the brush. The two pulleys 23 b and 23 d and the belt 23 c transmit power from the brush motor 23 a to the brush.

The water spray unit 24 is only disposed in the up-right type vacuum cleaner that is desired to have a water cleaning function. The water spray unit 24 includes a water tank 33, a water supply hose 24 a, an air pump 24 b, a water spray hose and a water spray nozzle 24 d. The water tank 33 contains a predetermined quantity of water and is disposed in the main body 30 to supply the water spray nozzle 24 d with water. The water supply hose 24 a places the water tank 33 in fluid communication with the air pump 24 b so that the water flows from the water tank 33 to the air pump 24 b. The air pump 24 b selectively communicates or blocks the water being supplied from the water tank 33 to the water spray nozzle 24 d through the water spray hose 24 c as the air pump is selectively turned on or off by a pump switch 35 a.

The plurality of wheels allow the up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 to move on the cleaning floor and comprises a pair of wheels 25 disposed at a back portion of the brush body 21. The pair of wheels 25 are rotatably supported by rotation shafts 26 disposed at both sides of the back portion of the brush body 21. Furthermore, it is preferable that a pair of small wheels (not shown) be disposed at a front portion of the bottom of the brush body 21 for easy movement of the vacuum cleaner 10.

The brush cover 29 is assembled on the brush body 21 so that the brush cover protects those elements described above. Nozzle holes 29 a through which the water spray nozzles 24 d are exposed are formed at a front side of the brush cover 29 when the up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 has the water cleaning function.

The main body 30 includes a vacuum generating apparatus 31 to generate suction force and a contaminant collecting apparatus 32 to collect the contaminants being sucked through the brush assembly 20. A motor assembly having a motor rotating an impeller may be used for the vacuum generating apparatus 31. The contaminant suction opening of the brush assembly 20 is in fluid communication with the contaminant collecting apparatus 32 by the hose 34. The contaminant collecting apparatus 32 may be implemented by any of a general dust bag and a cyclone dust collecting apparatus. The up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention has the water cleaning function. The cyclone dust collecting apparatus 32 and the water tank 33 containing water for the water cleaning are disposed in the main body 30 thereof.

Furthermore, a handle 35, which a user grabs to perform the cleaning, is disposed on an upper portion of the front side of the main body 30. The handle 35 is connected to the main body 30 via an extension pipe 36. A power switch (not shown) that turns on or off the vacuum generating apparatus 31 is disposed at the handle 35. The up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 having the water cleaning function also includes a mode switch (not shown) and the pump switch 35 a on the handle 35. The mode switch selects a mode between a dry cleaning mode and water-cleaning mode. The pump switch 35 a operates the air pump 24 b. The air pump 24 b may only operate when the mode switch selects the water-cleaning mode. The main body 30 can include a grip 37 disposed at upper portion of the backside thereof for carrying the up-right type vacuum cleaner 10.

When the main body 30 is angled downward with respect to a vertical axis 60 (FIG. 6), the weight compensation unit 50 supports some weight of the main body 30 so that weight being applied to the handle 35 is decreased. The weight compensation unit 50 is disposed at a connecting part 40 that connects the main body 30 to the brush assembly 20. The weight compensation unit 50 includes a spiral spring 51 and a spring wrap reel 53.

The spiral spring 51 is disposed on the brush assembly 20 at one side of the connecting part 40. The spiral spring 51 is formed of a thin steel band wound around and around like a whirlpool. When placed in tension, the spiral spring 51 stores up energy to be equivalent to the pulling force.

The spring wrap reel 53 is disposed at a lower part of the main body 30 forming the connecting part 40 so that the spiral spring 51 may wind around the spring wrap reel 53. An end of the spiral spring 51 is fixed on the spring wrap reel 53. When the main body 30 is angled downwards with respect to axis 60, in other words, the main body 30 rotates a predetermined angle 70 on the connecting part 40, the end of the spiral spring 51 is pulled and the pulled part of the spiral spring 51 is wound around the spring wrap reel 53. So it is preferable that a diameter of the spring wrap reel 53 is larger than the diameter of the spiral spring 51. Preferably, it is desirable that the diameter of the spring wrap reel 53 is twice the diameter of the spiral spring 51. In other words, the ratio of the diameter of the spring wrap reel 53 to the diameter of the spiral spring 51 is 2:1. Here, the connecting part 40 includes all elements disposed at each of the main body 30 and the brush assembly 20 so that the main body 30 and the brush assembly 20 can rotate relatively each other. The connecting part 40 according to this embodiment of present invention is formed by a hinge shaft 39 and a hinge groove 27 as shown in FIG. 5. However, the connecting part 40 may be formed in any shaped configuration suitable for a relative rotation of the main body 30 and the brush assembly 20.

Furthermore, the spring wrap reel 53 is disposed so that its center is located in front of a rotation shaft 26 of the wheel 25 and the spiral spring 51 is disposed so that its center shaft 52 is located behind the rotation shaft 26 of the wheel 25. Therefore, the front part of the brush assembly 20 is not lifted up when the main body 30 is angled downwards with respect to the brush assembly 20. At this time, it is preferable that the center shaft 52 of the spiral spring 51 also be located below the rotation shaft 26 of the wheel 25 as shown in FIG. 6.

FIG. 5 is a partial exploded prospective view illustrating the connecting parts 40 and 40′ between the main body 30 and the brush assembly 20. In this embodiment, each connecting part 40 and 40′ includes the hinge shaft 39 and the hinge groove 27.

Referring to FIG. 5, the hinge shafts 39 for each connecting part 40, 40′ are formed on the bottom of the opposite sides 38 of the main body 30. The hinge grooves 27 for each connecting part 40, 40′ have a semicircular shape inner sides 21 a of the brush body 21 so that each hinge groove 27 supports one of the hinge shafts 39. The brush cover 29 can include a pair of upper hinge grooves 28 corresponding to the pair of hinge grooves 27 of the brush body 21. Therefore, the pair of hinge shafts 39 can be seated in the hinge groove 27 of the brush body 21 and the brush cover 29 is assembled on the brush body 21 so that the main body 30 and the brush assembly 20 may rotate relatively each other. At this time, it is preferable that the pair of hinge shafts 39 be disposed in front of the rotation shaft 26 as shown in FIG. 6. The spring wrap reel 53 is fixed on the hinge shaft 39 so that the spring wrap reel 53 rotates integrally with the hinge shaft 39. The spiral spring 51 is disposed at one side of the hinge groove 27. Especially, the spiral spring 51 is preferably disposed so that its center shaft 52 is located below and behind the rotation shaft 26 of the pair of the wheels 25 as shown in FIG. 6. In this manner, angling the main body 30 downward with respect to the vertical axis 60 does not lift up the front part of the brush assembly 20.

The weight compensation unit 50 described above is disposed at the connecting part 40 on one side between the main body 30 and the brush assembly 20 as shown in FIG. 3. However, it is also contemplated by the present invention for each of the connecting parts 40, 40′ to have a weight compensation unit 50, 50′ at both sides between the main body 30 and the brush assembly 20.

Hereinafter, operation of the up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention comprising the same structure as that described above will be explained referring to FIGS. 2 and FIGS. 5 to 7.

When performing the cleaning, a user grips the handle 35 of the up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 and angles the main body 30 downwards by predetermined angle as shown in FIG. 6. At this time, weight being applied to the handle 35 is decreased by the weight compensation unit 50 between the main body 30 and brush assembly 20. This procedure is described in detail hereinafter.

When the main body 30 is angled downward with respect to vertical axis 60, the spring wrap reel 53 rotates clockwise with respect to the main body 30. Then end of the spiral spring 51 that is fixed to the spring wrap reel 53 is pulled toward the spring wrap reel 53 (see a direction of an arrow A in FIG. 6) and is wound around the spring wrap reel 53. At this time, the spiral spring 51 stores up force of restitution, in other words, energy that will act to return the main body 30 to an original position (i.e., parallel to axis 60) as much as the force pulling on the main body. The spiral spring 51 shares in the weight of the main body 30 so that the weight being applied to the handle 35 decreases. Therefore, the user may support the main body 30 angled downwards with a small force. So the user may lightly move the up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 to perform the cleaning.

Furthermore, the front portion of the brush assembly 20 is not lifted up until the main body 30 is substantially laid down on the floor (i.e., when angle 70 is substantially ninety degrees), because the spring wrap reel 53 is disposed in front of the rotation shaft 26 of the wheel 25 and the spiral spring 51 is disposed behind the rotation shaft 26 of the wheel 25. Therefore, the up-right type vacuum cleaner 10 according to the present invention is convenient to clean because the user does not need to maintain the angle of the main body 30 within a predetermined angle range for preventing the front portion of the brush assembly 20 from lifting up.

Furthermore, although the angle of the main body 30 varies, the weight being applied to the handle 35 of the main body 30 is substantially constant because the spiral spring 51 supports the main body 30.

When the power switch turns on and the user pushes the handle 35, the brush assembly 20 moves back and forth on the pair of the wheel 25 and sucks the contaminants from the floor through the contaminant suction opening. The contaminants sucked with air are separated and collected in the contaminant collecting apparatus 32 of the main body 30. Cleaned air is discharged out of the main body 30. When wet cleaning, the mode switch is set to the wet cleaning mode and the pump switch 35 a is operated. Then, water is sprayed through the water spray nozzle 24 d so that the user may perform the wet cleaning.

When the cleaning is completed, the user turns the power switch off, and pushes up the main body 30 in a perpendicular posture, namely so that the main body is parallel to axis 60 and angle 70 is zero. At this time, operation of the weight compensation unit 50 is described hereinafter referring to FIG. 7.

When pushing up the main body 30, the main body 30 rotates on the connecting part 40, namely the hinge shaft 39 counterclockwise. When the main body 30 rotates, the spring wrap reel 53 being disposed on the hinge shaft 39 rotates integrally with the hinge shaft 39 counterclockwise. Then the spiral spring 51 is wound off the spring wrap reel 53 and returns to the original state. At this time, the force of restitution of the spiral spring 51 applies to the spring wrap reel 53 in a direction of an arrow B as shown in FIG. 7 so that the user may push up the main body 30 in the perpendicular posture by a small force.

While the embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional variations and modifications of the embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims shall be construed to include both the above embodiments and all such variations and modifications that fall within the spirit and scope of the invention. 

1. An up-right type vacuum cleaner, comprising: a brush assembly having a pair of wheels; a main body being rotatably disposed to the brush assembly; a spiral spring being disposed at a connecting part at one side of the brush assembly; and a spring wrap reel being disposed at the connecting part at one side of the main body corresponding to the spiral spring, the spring wrap reel having one end of the spiral spring fixed thereto; wherein the spiral spring gets loosen and wound around the spring wrap reel as the main body is angled downwards with respect to a vertical axis.
 2. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 1, further comprising: a second spiral spring being disposed at a second connecting part at the other side of the brush assembly; and a second spring wrap reel being disposed at the second connecting part at the other side of the main body corresponding to the second spiral spring.
 3. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the spring wrap reel and the second spring wrap reel are disposed on the main body in front of rotation shafts of the pair of wheels.
 4. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 3, wherein the spiral spring and the second spiral spring are disposed at the brush assembly below and behind the rotation shafts of the pair of wheels.
 5. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the connecting part comprises: a pair of hinge shafts disposed at a bottom of the main body; and a pair of hinge grooves disposed in the brush assembly to support the pair of hinge shafts.
 6. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 5, wherein the spring wrap reel and the second spring wrap reel are disposed at the pair of hinge shafts, respectively.
 7. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the spring wrap reel has a diameter with a ratio to the diameter of the spiral spring of substantially 2:1.
 8. An up-right type vacuum cleaner, comprising: a brush assembly; a main body; a connecting part rotatably connecting the main body to the brush assembly so that the main body is moveably between a vertical position and a horizontal position; and a first weight compensating unit having a spiral spring on the brush assembly and a spring wrap reel on the main body, the spiral spring having one end fixed to the spring wrap reel, wherein the spring wrap reel rotates in a first direction as the main body is moved from the vertical position to the horizontal position so that the free end is wound around the spring wrap reel and the spring wrap reel rotates in a second direction as the main body is moved from the horizontal position to the vertical position so that the free end is unwound from the spring wrap reel.
 9. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 8, further comprising a second weight compensating unit.
 10. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 8, further comprising a pair of wheels on the brush assembly, the pair of wheels rotating about rotation shafts, respectively.
 11. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 10, wherein the spring wrap reel is on the main body in front of the rotation shafts.
 12. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 10, wherein the spiral spring is on the brush assembly below and behind the rotation shafts.
 13. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 8, wherein the spring wrap reel has a diameter with a ratio to the diameter of the spiral spring of substantially 2:1.
 14. The up-right type vacuum cleaner of claim 8, wherein the brush assembly has a front portion that is not lifted up from a cleaning floor until the main body is substantially in the horizontal position. 